Report: Features of Windows Phone 7.8 get revealed and confirmed

Although Microsoft has yet to reveal anything official about the upcoming Windows Phone 7.8 update (besides the new Start screen) more and more information is coming out. Part of the reason may be because the update is rumored to be have been finalized and is now in OEM partner hands. Now the process of customization and testing by the likes of Nokia, Samsung and HTC will take place.

We have a few reports tied into one massive write up for your reading ease. We’ll start with the simple and work our way up to the more detailed information about what's new in Windows Phone 7.8.

Build number

This is a relatively easy one but it’s still interesting “for the record” kind of information. From what we’ve been told from our sources the build number for Windows Phone 7.8 will be 7.10.8858.136. That’s a confirmed build number for at least some of what Nokia is working with though we do expect variations based on device and region, so consider that an approximation but not necessarily universal.

Current builds of Windows Phone 7.5 are at 7.10.8779 making the jump to 8858 somewhat significant.

Promotional material

Information about Windows Phone 7.8 is already being printed and distributed. Such is the case in the above image given to us by reader of the site Kaljami. He recently visited his local DNA store in Finland to test out some new Nokia Lumias and spotted this brochure, which he snapped up. Although written in Finnish, we’re told it states

“…there will be more theme colours to choose from, it also says that there will be more than the new start screen. And what´s really important is that it confirms that there will be another update after the WP 7.8 update. “

Indeed that’s the second mention of a post Windows Phone 7.8 update that we’ve heard now, the earlier coming from a leaked Nokia slide deck. So while for some 7.8 won’t be “enough” to satisfy or make up for no Windows Phone 8 on legacy devices, it looks like Microsoft (and by extension Nokia) will be still adding new features after this new update.

Nokia Lumia 510 with 7.8 gets detailed

Over at the site Winp.cn, they’ve managed to get their hands on an early build of Windows Phone 7.8 officially placed on the upcoming Nokia Lumia 510 entry market device. The device was spotted earlier with Windows Phone 7.5 but there are 7.8 beta builds floating around now too.

In a rather lengthy post, Winp.cp go through and detail all the new features. While there are no huge revelations, there is continued confirmation of rumored new features. So here is what is officially in 7.8 so far:

New Core apps re-design – Xbox Games, Office and Store all get updated with new logos

20 Accent colors – We saw this with Windows Phone 8 and now 7 .8 too gets 10 new accent colors (plus one for OEMs or carriers to customize)

Live Lock screen Wallpaper – Users can now take advantage of Bing wallpaper, which dynamically updates every day. We’re not sure if this extendable to third party applications as in Windows Phone 8 but presumably it is possible.

Nokia Network+ settings – we’ve seen this in current Lumia 810/820/822 and 920 devices where Nokia adds some advanced network configurations, such as call forwarding, call waiting and SMS options

Finally, there are some advanced changes that only Nokia is applying to their Lumia line as these are OEM customizations. Some of these should make folks very happy:

Bluetooth sharing of non-DRM multimedia files

More ringtone editing abilities

Contact transfer and sharing app upgrade with new features

So there you go, what we know so far about Windows Phone 7.8. What we can now definitively say is yes, it will be more than just a Live Tile update but not nearly as much as everyone will want. OEMs will in fact play just a big a role as Microsoft in increasing functionality of the update if they choose. So far, Nokia seems to be taking the lead with the most additions but we’ve seen a report just yesterday that HTC may also be adding a few tricks, including the coveted “keep WiFi alive” feature and SMS drafts.

There is still no word on actual distribution of the update but things are starting to fall in place for an early Q1 release.

Thanks, Kaljami for the brochure image and Mohamed A. for the Winp.cn link

SO AWESOME !!! Can't wait. They should have named it Windows Phone 8 and not included all the feature that requires hardware change just like what Apple does. They release the new update for all their models but someof the features are missing.
Way to go MS. This is the reason I love you more for not misleading your customers. :)

@jeffkibuule: The same can be said for devices running iOS too. A lot of the newer apps require iOS 4.0 at least alienating anything before the 3GS (still better than 6-month old 900 but you get the point).

I agree with iBandar that WP7.8 should have been called Windows Phone 8. But you are right about the mass confusion with apps.
Maybe they should have called WP8 something else. They could have called it the WP8 Pro, kind of like they did with the Surface/Surface Pro. Or maybe Windows Mobile 8 (which is a better name than Windows Phone anyway). That would take care of any confusion.

Excellence suggestion that "Phone" be replaced with "Mobile". I think they should have kept with the Windows Mobile name instead of trying to sound like Apple's iPhone! Windows Phone sounds boringly dull.

No they shouldn't because that would be lying. The older iPhones DO get the NEW OS, just without the new features. The new APIs (that their hardware can do) are present and apps designed for the new OS will work on them.
WP7.8 is an evolution of WP7.5 and is nothing like WP8. It still runs the CE kernel and does NOT add the new APIs that are in WP8, not even the ones which are not hardware dependant. WP8 apps will NOT run on WP7.8.

Interesting that the version number is still 7.1 and not 7.2. I think that should signify how much Microsoft actually changed - had it been a large update like mango we would have seen the version bumped to 7.2. Unless maybe they're waiting for the last minute to update that.

7.5 owners have no reason to bitch. In fact 7.5 is more refined and stable than 8 at this point. Eventually the phone team at ms is going to have to focus their efforts more on supporting/refining/updating wp8 than pleasing 7.5 users. I say that as a former 7.5 user myself till recently. I would be real happy with that update.

I still have my 7.5 HD7 as tmobile tells me that my upgrade price for the 810 is 167 and change, before tax. I'll be satisfied with 7.8 when they finally release it. It should have been released simultaneously with 8 but that would be nonsensical apparently even though we legacy device owners were/have been onboard with the platform from the beginning.

And a side note, my TOUCHSCREEN phone does not work with halo 4 smartglass because I don't have touch features. Da***? Touchscreen without touch feature? That right there had me thinking of jumping to Android.

Microsoft has announced that Smartglass features for Halo 4 are not supported on WP7 devices. Only WP8... and iOS... and Android. And at the rate they are going it will be supported on Blackberry, Symbian, Linux, TI-83 graphing calculators, 1950's punch card computers and abacuses before Microsoft supports the MILLIONS who invested in THEIR devices.

I understand that supporting WP8 encourages adoption of the platform but why, in god's name, can they find the time and energy and resources and financing to support COMPETITION who chooses iOS because they dislike Microsoft. Yet leave loyal supporters who GAVE THEM MONEY in purchase of the device no support.

Microsoft is a family of their biological children (Windows/Office) and constantly neglected adoptive ones (Xbox/Zune/Windows Mobile/Windows Phone/Hardware)

I disagree with this, while my Trophy was fast, smooth and stable, so is my Lumia 822, not a single issue with the phone. Now Verizon taking out the group text feature was BS but the phone and OS has been rock solid for me. Love the LTE.

Many (most?) of us thought it was nothing more than the UI tweak... I stopped being excited about it a long time ago :P I was also super excited about WP8, but no microSD in the flagship phones killed it for me too (I don't like the Ativ). I think I'll wait for 2nd gen models to come out :|

I'm just going to wait and see - LG have sent through all the previous updates, so there's no logical reason to assume they won't do the same with this one. Still, they don't seem to have a lot of interest in supporting WP users - for example, the compass in mine hasn't worked since day 1, but they're not interested in fixing it, even though it's probably just a firmware issue.

Do we know if 3rd-party apps will be able to use the largest tile size? Presumably this would require some sort of WP 7.8 SDK update with additional APIs. Will developers even bother to update their apps for 7.8?

I can't believe that after so long time we don't have screenshot functionality... I'm looking forward to see that functionality deployed on our new but old WP 7.X. BTW: is it so difficult to implement?

Pretty much everything I already knew about 7.8. If they don't bring screen capturing to 7.8 no doubt I'm going to flash my device and install Bazaar. More colors, tiles, screenshots and I couldn't care less about Windows Phone 8.

Those are great news. Sadly I expected to get Lock Screen Notifications which I really need!! Honestly I didn't think that notifs would need a hardware update or the new kernel... Hope we get a 3rd party app to achieve this.

Nokia is leading this push because they have to unify all the products that they produce..most of the phones are still selling in small markets around the world. If you all visit Nokia.com I will make more sense..

You can create the playlist when you tap the bottom left where you see the name of the songs in now playing screen. Once you tap the name of the song, there is save button on mid bottom. So easy to create playlist.

The option for the Lock screen 5 minutes limit is due to the type of Screen. All Super Amoled Display have that limitation dur to the screen deterioration on a long time on. The HTC Titan has a screen that does not have that restriction. But all Samsung Screens that are Super Amoled Display are, even on the Android phones. A big disadvantage for the user who run Maps on a regular basis. I had a Samsung Focus & it was restricted to 5 min until I unlocked it & change the registry to give the option to never. The 920 is the same. 5 minutes. Too bad. I will never get a phone that time out on me. I travel too much & need to keep that screen on for navigation, emails Text.
Hope this help anybody wanting to know the cause of the timeout.

I ain't buying this explanation. I can keep screen on for hours by constantly turning back on anyway. I can see not having "never" option but at least lets have the 15 minute option.
Also annoying that WiFi disconnects after that 5 minutes too..

Windows Live isn't working anymore if you switch to outlook. My mail "est kaputt". If this doesn't work after the update, I will demand a new phone. Thank the better half of western society that I live in Sweden, because it is actually possible to demand consumer rights.

Seriously only Nokia devices get the good stuff like Bluetooth file sharing? Wtf? What is Samsung doing? Copying apple... Bloody Samsung is total shit... Ya and if I am not wrong then Bluetooth file sharing can be included by MS itself... It doesn't have to be just the OEM.... What shit is this?

I think I'm just going to stay on the HD7 for a while longer. I would have been ok even had MS stopped supporting at 7.5 but this is a great bonus. The T-Mobile 8x is good but I just couldn't bring myself to ditch my favourable legacy contract for a new one or pay $600 off contract for it.

Gonna hang out on my Focus S for at least a few more months, so this will be a fun refresh. Glad to hear their may be more updates in the future. It doesn't replace the fact that WP8 is unmistakably the future, but WP7 is being given a little love. I am looking forward to it.